A Question of Color
by srusse87
Summary: HeeroxDuo... Written for Sunhawk's Embrace Your Cliche Month. A get together fic with a lot of fluffy sappy goodness.


Disclaimer: I do not own any part of Gundam Wing. I made absolutely no profit writing this story.

_A Question of Color_

Watching Wing Zero go down in smoke and flames was one of the worst experiences of my life. I thought of all the things I'd wanted to say to Heero and never did. I thought of all the experiences he'd never get to live. I thought of all the times I'd wanted to tell him I thought I was in love with him...but never had the courage.

And then he stumbled out of the wreckage and I felt I was being given a second chance. So when all the hoopla had died down I busted Heero out of the hospital. After I made sure he understood I didn't appreciate being sucker punched and shuffled away like some freaking package, I brought him back to my place.

We figured we could make base there until we sorted out what to do with ourselves. So far the arrangement was working fine.

Except for the part where I told him about my feelings.

Relena visited several times, checking on Heero and each time she came over I lost my nerve a little more. I didn't like her visiting but she was important to Heero. Very important. And I just wanted him to be happy, even if it was killing me. Besides, I figured he'd never notice.

"What's the deal with you and Relena?"

Apparently Heero's a lot more perceptive than people give him credit for.

We were sitting at the kitchen table where Heero was poking at the scrambled eggs I'd made for dinner. The question was rather abrupt but I'd quickly grown accustomed to Heero's directness. He generally thought carefully about something before bringing it up, and so while the question seemed rather random to me I knew he must have been pondering it for a while.

"What do you mean?" Didn't mean I had to be as direct though.

"You don't seem to like her very much." He spoke around a mouthful of eggs and then blinked at me in surprise. "These are good."

"Of course they're good, though breakfast is about the only meal I can cook well."

He looked up at me and then back down at his plate. "Is that why we're eating it for dinner?"

I shrugged and didn't offer a response.

Somehow ever since Heero had moved in, we'd fallen into the routine of him cooking and me doing the dishes. It wasn't that I couldn't cook, obviously I hadn't starved to death in the period of time before Heero became my roommate, it was just that neither of us had much focus in our lives at the moment. Heero seemed to find a small measure of comfort in the task of preparing our meals so I was more than happy to give him that.

Besides, while I can cook it doesn't mean I'm a good cook. What I told Heero was true, for some reason I could make a damn fine breakfast; french toast, omelets, pancakes, breakfast burritos, you name it. Anything else though and it came out...edible, but nothing to write home about.

We ate in silence for a while longer before Heero gave me his determined look and picked up his question again.

"So why don't you like her?"

I stabbed a bit of egg viciously and tried to think of an answer that didn't make me sound like a jealous love-sick loon. Why didn't I like her?

It could be the way she screeched Heero's name like she owned him. It could be the way she sat there calmly telling Heero to just go ahead and shoot the base; regardless of the fact that Wing wasn't meant to fire off so many hits with the beam cannon, especially after taking so much damage from Wufei. It could be that she was the princess and the princess always got the hero. Or it could be just the gender factor making her far more entitled to Heero than me.

Of course I wasn't about to tell Heero all that.

"She's too pink."

Heero paused, fork half way to his mouth and blinked at me. "What?"

I slouched down in my chair, pushing my plate away and refused to meet his eyes. "She's too pink."

"Let me get this straight. You dislike Relena purely on the merit that she wears an excessive amount of pink?"

I squirmed, "Well there are other reasons as well..." I trailed off when I realized he had stood up and was now crouched next to me. He used his finger to push my chin up so our eyes met.

"Such as?" He was smiling and I realized how blue his eyes really were and how young he looked when he smiled. He was beautiful and so very not mine.

I pushed his hand away and tried to stand up but he put his hands on my shoulders and pushed me back down. I could feel his hands through my shirt, so incredibly warm and I wondered if he knew how difficult his closeness was making it for me to think.

"What other reasons Duo?"

I shook my head but he didn't let go, just continued to look at me with that gentle smile. I shuddered, "She acts like youre her personal property. She acts like you're her best friend when she doesn't really know you. She has everything going for her and could give you anything you wanted."

Woah, where did that one come from? I managed to get my mouth shut and stood up, grabbing my plate and dumping it in the sink.

Heero didn't say anything and I didn't dare look at him. I hurried out of the room and was halfway down the hallway when something snagged my arm and pinned my back against the wall.

Heero's eyes burned into mine and he wasn't smiling. "She doesn't own me Duo."

I opened my mouth but no words came out and he pushed me a little harder against the wall. "She may have everything going for her but she can't give me the one thing I truly want."

He smiled then and his grip on me softened a little. I realized he had one leg pressed between mine and that his face was close enough for me to see the darker ring of blue around his eyes. He reached a hand up to cup my cheek and then leaned in the rest of the way and kissed me.

His lips were soft and the hand on my cheek circled around to the base of my neck. He pulled me close and the kiss deepened.

An eternity later he pulled back and dropped his forehead to rest against mine. "The most important things, money can't buy."

I stood there, against the wall surrounded by Heero's warmth and smiled. "I never thought pink was your color anyway."


End file.
